Device for perforating the lens capsule front wall in the eye of living beings

ABSTRACT

Device for perforating the lens capsule front wall in the eye of living beings for removing a part of the capsule wall and producing an opening through which the lens capsule contents can be removed. A tube is arranged on a hand piece, in which a wire provided with a point on its free end is held, said wire being connected to a drive motor putting the wire in axially reciprocating motion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention refers to a device for perforating the lens capsule frontwall in the eye of living beings for removing a part of the capsule walland producing an opening therein, through which the lens capsulecontents can be removed.

Up to now it has been common practice to open the lens capsule sack bymeans of most varied instruments, wherein, however, as a rule the edgeof the opening cut into the front wall of the lens body sack has a moreor less irregularly jagged or frayed shape. However, this isdisadvantageous, especially with regard to surgical measures to insertan implantation lens in the patient.

For a long time the wish has existed to have a device which is in theposition to cut out a circular disc of a certain size from the frontwall of the lens capsule sack, in order to obtain a circular openingwith a smooth, unjagged edge along the incision line. Devices whichenable this have not become known up to now, for which reason theinvention is based on the task of creating such a device which is ableto carry out the task given above.

For the solution of this task it was proposed to design the device inquestion in such a way that an annular guideway is located on or in acutting head insertable into the opened eye, along which guideway acutting knife projecting beyond the guideway in an axial direction andmaking a circular incision during its movement is guided.

To be sure, the aforementioned device carries out its task in a quitesatisfactory manner; however, conditioned by its mechanicalconstruction, it is extraordinarily delicate and thus succeptible tobreakdowns. Therefore, it is unsuitable as a device to be used in theoperations in question.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is based on the task of creating a device suitable for thepurpose mentioned, constructively simple and dependably working, alwaysready for use, which makes it possible to open the lens capsule quicklyand dependably in the desired, optimal manner, so that a hole in thefront wall is obtained, which is located at the place at which it isdesired, and which is defined with regard to its size and shape. Herein,in addition, the hydrostatic pressure in the front chamber of the eyeshould be maintained during the use of this device, in order to enablework in an optimal operating field.

The for solution of this task the proposal according to the invention isto design the device in question in the manner as described and shown inparticular in patent claim 1 and furthermore in the the independentclaims, dependent claims, as well as with reference to a preferredembodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 of the drawing drawing shows a longitudinal section through thedevice designed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows schematically alternate pneumatic drive means;

FIG. 3 corresponds to a rear portion of FIG. 1, but shows the drive ringin a frontmost position; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-section along line A--A of FIG. 1.

The inventive device or surgical instrument consists of a hand piece 11,on the front part 12 of which a tube 13 is coaxially attached. The frontend 14 of the tube 13 is pressed somewhat flat and is provided with acurve 15. In the tube 13 an axially oscillating, movable wire 16 ismounted with relatively large play, the wire being wavily bent andprovided with a point 18 at its front end 17.

The wire 16 is connected with its rear end to a shaft or piston 19,which projects with its front end 20 into the chamber 21 in the handpiece 11, which chamber is sealed towards the rear against the piston 19by means of sealing collars 22. A connection piece 23 disposed on thehand piece opens into the chamber 21, onto which connection piece a hosecan be fitted to convey liquid under predetermined pressure into thechamber 21, which liquid then exits during use of the device through thetube 13 guiding the wire and at its front end, to maintain a certainhydrostatic pressure in the opened front chamber of the eye to beoperated on, which substantially facilitates and/or promotes theoperation in the opened eye.

The lens capsule front wall is perforated with the point 18 at the frontend of the wire 16 along a line, usually a circle, determined by theoperator, wherein the punctures lie in close juxtaposition to eachother. This is achieved by moving the wire 16 back and forth at acertain frequency, for instance of approximately 30-80 Hz. Both anelectromagnet and an electric motor can be used as drive aggregate,provided that the motion characteristics are such that the point 18 ofthe oscillating wire 16 is able to surely penetrate the capsule wall inits advance. The axial movements of the wire 16 are not supposed tofollow a sinus function, as its point 18 has the lowest speed andacceleration values at the points of motion reversal. Since the lenscapsule consists of an extrordinarily tough and resistant tissue, inorder to achieve good working results, the wire point 18 must be shotforward very spontaneously, in order to thus abruptly penetrate the lenscapsule wall.

In order to achieve this, a drive aggregate is preferably used whichconsists of a drive motor with rotating rotor and a relatively simplemechanism which draws back the piston 21 and thereby the wire 16, and indoing so simultaneously tenses a spring acting thereupon, which uponbeing suddenly released shoots the wire 16 forward in the desiredmanner.

At the rear end of the hand piece 11 there is an electric motor 25 in ahousing 24, the hollow shaft 26 of which motor causes a drive ring 28provided with first cam means, such as a curve path 27 to rotate along adirection shown by an arrow 28'. Abutting this is a drive disc 31axially connected with the drive shaft 29 and likewise provided with acorresponding curve path 30, which drive disc 31 cooperates with thedrive ring 28, and is axially moved back during one revolution of thedrive ring 28, wherein it draws back the drive shaft 29. It thusexecutes a reciprocal movement, as shown by the double arrow. A springplate 32 by which the spring 33 is tensed is located on the drive shaftand axially connected thereto. With the corresponding movement of thedrive ring 28 relative to the drive disc 31, drive disc 31 moves awayrearwardly the drive ring 28, so that the spring 33 can then drive thedrive shaft 29 abruptly forward, taking along the spring plate 32, Thepointed wire 16 is therefore caused to move reciprocally between thepoints 18 and 18'. Instead of the drive ring being actuated by theelectric motor 25, it can alternately be actuated by pneumatic orhydraulic means, such as drive means 35, shown only schemtically in FIG.2.

What is claimed is:
 1. Surgical instrument for perforating the frontwall of the lens capsule in the eye of living beings for removing apiece of the capsule wall and producing an opening through which thelens capsule contents can be removed, comprising in combinationanelongated hollow handpiece, an elongated tube disposed near a front endof said handpiece, having an opening near the front end of saidhandpiece, and at least partially fitting into said handpiece, anelongated wire located in said tube, being movable between axiallyfrontal and retracted positions, and having one pointed end extended ina frontal direction through the opening of said tube in said frontalposition, a drive motor connected to said wire, and means associatedwith said drive motor for reciprocally moving said wire between saidfrontal and retracted positions so that said wire is moved relativelyslowly from said frontal position to said retracted position, but isaburptly moved forwardly from said retracted position to said frontalposition.
 2. The surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidwire has an outside diameter and said tube has an inside diameterexceeding the outside diameter of said wire by a factor of at least two.3. The surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said wire hasat least one curved portion at least near the pointed end thereof, andsaid tube has an inner curved portion, so that the curved portion ofsaid wire is slidably disposed within the inner curved portion of saidtube.
 4. The surgical instrument as claimed in claim 3, wherein saidtube has an oval cross-section near a front end thereof, and whereinsaid wire has another curved portion adjoining said one curved portion,said wire portions having an S-shaped configuration.
 5. The surgicalinstrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tube defines a chamber, afurther comprising a connection piece connected to said tube, extendingoutwardly beyond said tube, and communicating with said chamber, wherebya hose can be fitted onto said connection piece, and liquid with apredetermined pressure can be passed through said connection piece tomaintain said pressure in the opened front chamber of the eye to beoperated upon.
 6. The surgical instrument as claimed in claim 5, whereinsaid means associated with the drive motor for reciprocally moving saidwire includes a piston movable through at least a portion of said tubeoutside of said chamber, and further comprising sealing means forsealing said outside portion from said chamber, while permitting axialmovement of said piston inside said tube.
 7. The surgical instrument asclaimed in claim 6, wherein said sealing means include a collar providedwith a sealing lip abutting said piston.
 8. The surgical instrument asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said drive motor includes a hollow shaft,and wherein said means associated with the drive motor for reciprocallymoving said wire include a piston axially movable through saidhandpiece, a plate connected to one end of said piston remote from saidtube opening, a drive shaft connected to said plate and slidable throughthe hollow shaft of said drive motor, said drive shaft extending in adirection away from said tube opening through the beyond said hollowshaft, a drive ring rigidly connected with said drive motor, andslidably disposed on said drive shaft near an end thereof and remotefrom said plate, a spring interposed between said plate and a face ofsaid drive motor facing said tube opening, a drive disc mounted on saiddrive shaft near said end thereof remote from said tube opening, andbeing axially movable with said drive shaft, and first cam means mountedon said drive disc and second cam means mounted on said drive ringcooperating with one anotherso that as said drive ring moves towards anaxially extreme rearward rotational position during one rotationthereof, and said cam means only abut one another, but are out ofengagement with one another, said drive disc is forced relatively slowlyrearwardly in a direction away from said tube opening, causing said wireto assume said retracted position, but as said drive ring reaches anaxially extreme frontward rotational position so that cam means can bebrought into engagement with one another, said drive disc is abruptlypulled in a direction towards said tube opening by the force of saidspring, so that said wire is abruptly pushed forwardly into said frontalposition.
 9. The surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein saiddrive motor includes pneumatic drive means.
 10. The surgical instrumentas claimed in claim 1, wherein said drive motor includes hydraulic drivemeans.